Banter
by AlexaNDYE
Summary: Post-Avengers one-shot - Pepper and Tony take the time to perfect their banter. WARNING: Minor spoilers from The Avengers. Again, don't read if you don't want to be spoiled silly!


**A/N: Here is another one-shot that's meant for post-Avengers. I took a break from the last chapter of 'Repair', which by the way is somewhat almost done, and conjured this little guy. It's just Pepper and Tony being Pepper and Tony. I have a date with Conan O'Brien tomorrow, so i should probably go to bed ;).**

**Disclaimer: Frikken love you, Robert! I own nothing.**

**Enjoy!**

**P.S. If you haven't read my other story, 'Regrets', yet, please do so. This story is based off of it, but it's not a sequel. 'Regrets' compliments 'Banter' =)  
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"You sure you don't want anything to drink?" Tony called out to Pepper from behind the bar. He was taking out a glass bottle of scotch and pouring it into a smaller glass.

"Well, I would finish that glass of champagne, but celebrating our now destroyed building would be a little unsettling." She looked over at him with a small smile. She wore her pink blouse and brown skirt. Her bare legs were underneath a huge red fluffy blanket. She sat on top of the white rug that was in the back of the loft; her back was against the black couch. Those were about the only things that didn't get destroyed.

After he and Pepper talked about the Stark Tower remodeling, they argued a bit about sleeping arrangements. Unfortunately, part of the bedroom got taken out during the battle, and there were already plastic sheets covering the walls and furniture, so the only comfortable place to sleep was in the back, on the rug.

"It's not _totally_ destroyed." He tried to tell her.

"Only my twelve percent got destroyed." She faked a wide grin, and looked at him.

"Ha ha." He said dryly. "I was only half-joking about that."

"Half?" She breathed a laugh.

He closed the bottle of scotch and put it back on the shelf. He still had on his black buttoned up cotton t-shirt, and his pair of black pants. His sleeves were rolled up a bit. He carefully carried his scotch with him.

"A quarter." He said without missing a beat.

"A quarter?" She practically squeaked. "You do realize you're going the wrong way."

He walked towards her. "Actually, I'm going in the right direction."

"Because one quarter-joking is like saying you were being completely serious." She ignored his last comment, but heard it anyways.

"My name was on the building—" He lowered himself to sit next to her.

"'was' being the key term." She shot him a look.

"I did say an argument could've been made for fifteen." He took a sip of his drink and placed the cup on the glass table next to him. "Fifteen is a lot."

"Yeah," She sarcastically laughed. "In 'Tony-numbers', fifteen is like the Holy Grail."

"I'm offended." He gestured by resting his hand on his RT. "I've given you everything in the past ten plus years."

"Yeah, because you've _literally_ given me everything." She reached over him and grabbed his glass of scotch, and took a sip. He furrowed his eyebrows at her in a, 'hey!' gesture.

"I went to some of the meetings." He tried to tell her, scooting closer to her, and lifting the blanket to cover his lower half.

"That's because I _made_ you go to those meetings. Without my poking and prodding—"

"Without _your _poking and prodding, wewouldn't be here right now." He casually took his glass of scotch back, and took a sip. His words merely implied their new relationship.

"You're the one that kissed me first." She grinned at him; her legs were brushing up against his.

"Right." He said longingly. "And I flew over the moon." He rolled his eyes at her, and looked at the moonlight that cascaded through their loft and some of the broken glass.

"You flew into a dark portal that took you to another realm. I think that tops the moon." She said, rubbing her shoulder against his.

He glanced over at her with a slight smirk. "You practically attacked me—"

"You attacked me!" She said with a smile. "Your lips literally attacked mine."

"Now you're just over exaggerating." He mumbled, taking a sip of scotch.

"Twelve percent of me is." She shot back.

He looked back at her. "I'm never going to hear the end of it, am I?"

"Maybe if you offered me at least fifty percent—"

"What kind of person would I be if I gave you fifty percent?"

"Not someone's boyfriend, that's for sure." She sarcastically mumbled under her breath. She reached for his glass of scotch, but he effectively kept it out of reach from her.

"First time I hear you use that word and it's to poke fun of me. You wound me, Miss Potts." He pouted.

She rolled her eyes at him and dropped her hands on his lap, which was covered with the blanket. "That's because you're being a little insensitive right now."

"Me, insensitive?" He raised his eyebrow at her. "Don't you think that's a little harsh considering, not even six hours ago, that I was knocking on death's door – with my last breath – by the way. But, of course, I called the person I cared most about to spill my love for her, but nope, she didn't answer."

She groaned at his short speech and tilted her head back. She recovered when she saw him take a sip of his scotch.

"It's not like I asked you to bring death a house warming fruit basket."

"Tony, I already apologized for that." She said flatly, pressing her lips together. "Maybe if you let me have fifty percent of the credit, I would've answered the phone."

"Now you're just being mean." He pouted, handing her his glass of scotch.

She laughed at him. "And what about you?" She began to drink what was left of his drink.

"Insensitive?" He raised his eyebrow, taking the glass from her grasp and putting it back on the glass table.

"Tony being insensitive – that's a new one." She joked. Pepper felt a slight breeze pass through the loft. She cuddled up to Tony's side and rested her head on his shoulder. She started to rub her hands against his right hand, whilst his left arm wrapped around her shoulders to pull her in closer.

"But that's why you're so in love with me, right?" He watched her play with his hand.

She looked up at him and smiled. "That didn't make any sense."

"Made perfect sense to me; I have no idea what you're thinking about." He grinned back, resting his head against hers.

"I was thinking about how my boss is really pushing his buttons right now. If you want, I can just rent a room at the Hilton and sleep there." She shot back, and watched him squirm.

"It's after hours, Potts." He beamed at her and completely ignored her last comment. "I thought we agreed after hour's turns the word 'boss' into 'boyfriend'."

"We never agreed to that." She furrowed her eyebrows at him before breathing a laugh.

"Well…" He paused and squeezed her shoulder. "…I agreed to it—I mean I drew up a contract and everything."

"You'll make a contract for the words 'boss' and 'boyfriend', but you won't sign any of the papers I hand you, let alone go to the meetings that _pertain_ to those papers." She shot him an 'are you kidding me' look.

"I work in mysterious ways, Pepper. I thought you knew that." He smiled at her.

"Oh, trust me. I know."

"Okay, that little predicament I got into on our first date – that was purely intentional."

"Right." She laughed. "So, the policemen that tried to arrest you?"

"That…" He paused to gather his thoughts. "…That was a little off course, but I thought our first date went swimmingly."

"Yes, and by swimmingly—"

"Okay, when your date falls into an indoor water fountain, you shouldn't just stand there and laugh at him. A little help _out of the fountain_ would've been appreciated." He told her, shifting in place in attempts to get comfortable.

"I'm sorry." She started to laugh. "But, that was hilarious. I knew I should've taken a picture."

"Until I pulled you in with me." He grinned at her.

Pepper's smile abruptly went flat. "That was _the_ worst thing you could've done to me on our first date."

"Oh, c'mon." He grinned and wrapped his arms around her to hug her. "It was the best date you've had, _ever_." He pressed a light kiss to the side of her head and felt her squirm under his hold. "Admit it."

"Not until you give me that fifty percent." She shot back.

"For what it's worth," He started out. "_I_ thought that was the best date I've ever had."

"It was the only date you've ever had." She joked.

"Okay, now _you're_ being insensitive." He frowned at her. "I worked hard to get you to come with me without realizing it was a date."

"Yeah, you only had to lie to me about five million times." She beamed at him, fully remembering his tactics.

"I wanted to make it memorable." He told her and leaned against the couch. "I'm sure you've been on plenty of awesome and amazing dates. I didn't want to be compared to all the other pretty boys that swept you off your feet." Pepper felt bad for him and moved to grab his hand. When she did, he looked down at her in curiosity.

"Tony, I don't care if you take me out to go to the petting zoo." She told him with a wide grin. "I'm perfectly happy with just spending time with you."

"So, I haven't screwed up yet?" He raised his eyebrow at her, noticing the sparkle in her eyes.

"Well…" She paused and crooked the edge of her mouth.

"You can't say the percent thing was a bust." He told her with a small smile. "And yes, we were having a moment."

"I was having—"

"I know." He cut her off. "Twelve percent of the moment, yada yada."

Pepper widened her grin at him and snuggled up to his side. She began to close her eyes. The peaceful breeze and the night sky added some sort of romantic gesture to their time together.

"So—" Tony muttered.

"Enjoy the moment, Tony." Pepper said with a small smile.

"Effectively, I was hoping you'd fulfill those promises – you know, the ones you whispered into my ear. I mean, I did finish my homework – and saved the world – which, by the way—" He was abruptly cut off by Pepper's lips.

Her hands were at his waist, and his arm was still around her shoulders. When he felt her lips on top of hers, he almost lost it. It was like a thousand fireworks had burst in his head. God, he missed her so much. When she pulled away, all Tony could think about was kissing her again.

"Go to sleep." She simply told him before resuming her position at his side.

Tony sighed against her hair, and grinned. "Tease."

"I love you, too." She mumbled against his chest, before falling asleep in his arms.

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**A/N: Reviews are always welcome :)**


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